Generally, plastic bottles, for example, PET bottles, store products having comparatively low viscosities, for example, water, tea, carbonated beverages, juices, and the like. Bottles containing those low viscous fluids have been widely marketed and have been sold at retail stores and in automatic vending machines. However, plastic bottles containing products having comparatively high viscosities such as jelly beverages, which are squeezed to be dispensed for drinking, have not been marketed.
Plastic bottles that can be folded up after use for waste recovery and plastic bottles whose volume before filling can be temporarily reduced for efficient stacking and shipping have been available. For example, a plastic bottle can be formed with soft walls and rigid walls, alternating in the circumferential direction, so that sections of the shoulder, body, and base having soft walls would fold inward after use. (See Japanese Kokai Publications Hei-8-24474 and Hei-10-230919.)
Another container known as a spout-pouch container is suitable for containing a jelly beverage. For example, one spout pouch container has a bag-like container main unit having a flexible sheet that has a spout of rigid resin heat sealed thereto. (See Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-2004-29970.) In use, the consumer pushes the flexible sheet to squeeze out the jelly beverage from the spout. In addition, the spout pouch container has been designed so as to stand erect in cooler cases found in stores. (See Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-2006-219157.)
The sale of spout pouch containers, however, has been limited to in-store sales, and they have not been sold in automatic vending machines (hereinafter “vending machines”). Indeed, vending machines are designed to hold aluminum cans or rigid plastic bottles that are strong enough to withstand horizontal placement. In contrast, the main unit of the spout pouch container would droop if stacked in vending machines.
The insertion of spout pouch containers in aluminum or rigid plastic tubes in order to hold spout pouch containers in vending machines has been considered. Such a method, however, has poor operational efficiency and is costly.
In addition, the use of plastic bottles to store comparatively high viscous products like jelly beverages and for vending in vending machines has been considered but has been limited by the bottle configuration. If the bottle is too strong, it is difficult, if not impossible, to dispense the jelly beverage. Conversely, if the bottle strength is reduced to allow a jelly beverage to be dispensed by squeezing, the strength becomes insufficient for stacking in vending machines, and it becomes difficult to open the cap.
Accordingly, there remains a need to provide a plastic bottle that is suitable for vending by vending machines and for storing and dispensing products having comparatively high viscosities.